PUTRAJAYA, June 29 — The Federal Court, here, today upheld the conviction and death sentence of a former taxi driver for the murder of a woman who was shot dead during a robbery 10 years ago.
Mokhtar Mohd Zin, 53, was charged with murdering Siti Shamiza Abu Zarim, 30, a construction firm secretary, in the car park of Giant Supermarket in Batu Caves, Gombak, at 1.45pm on March 19, 2005.
The five-member panel led by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif in a unanimous decision rejected Mokhtar’s final appeal to set aside the Court of Appeal’s conviction against him on a charge of murdering Siti Shamiza.
Justice Md Raus said there was no reason for the court to vary the decision of the Court of Appeal that found Mokhtar guilty of murdering the woman because he had conclusively been identified by several witnesses as the person who shot her.
“Thus, the appeal is rejected, (and) the decision of the Court of Appeal and the conviction and death penalty is upheld,” said Justice Md Raus, who presided together with Federal Court judges Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar, Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop, Tan Sri Hasan Lah and Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali.
According to the witnesses’ testimonies during the hearing, they heard gunshots in the parking lot and after that a woman was found dead next to a car.
The post-mortem found that the victim died from a gunshot on the chest and she was shot from the front. A mobile phone used by Mokhtar was also found beside her body.
Mokhtar, from Kelantan, in his defence told the court that two days prior to the incident he had gone to Kuala Lumpur to attend a case at the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court and had returned home on the same day, May 17, 2005.
Mokhtar, who is also a dealer of smuggled goods from Thailand, said he arrived at Rantau Panjang on the morning of May 18, 2005, and in the evening went to Golok, Thailand.
He surrendered to police on March 26, 2005, after his wife phoned him to inform that his picture had appeared in the news on a murder case in Kuala Lumpur.
On Sept 20, 2009, the Shah Alam High Court acquitted and discharged Mokhtar from the murder charge after the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against the taxi driver.
However, the prosecution which was not satisfied with the decision, appealed to the Court of Appeal.
On Oct 10, 2011, the Court of Appeal ordered Mokhtar to enter his defence after allowing the appeal by the prosecution.
On March 30, 2012, the Shah Alam High Court again acquitted and discharged Mokhtar from the same charge after hearing his defence, but the Court of Appeal subsequently convicted him of the charge after allowing the prosecution’s appeal.
Today, the Federal Court finally dismissed Mokhtar’s appeal. — Bernama
